802
Scalia, J., dissenting
DiFrancesco, supra, at 139.) But a civil proceeding successive to a criminal prosecution is not barred, even if (as in Halper itself) it has the potential to result in the imposition of a penalty. See United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U. S. 354, 362 (1984); One Lot Emerald Cut Stones v. United States, 409 U. S. 232, 235 (1972). Thus, by extending the no-double-punishments rule to civil penalties, while simultaneously affirming that it demanded more than mere fidelity to legislative intent, Halper gave the rule a breadth of effect it had never before enjoyed.
Halper involved a medical doctor who had already been convicted and punished under the criminal false claims statute, 18 U. S. C. § 287, for filing false medicare claims. The issue was whether he could then be fined for the same false claims under the civil provisions of the False Claims Act, 31 U. S. C. §§ 3729-3731. We held that the Double Jeopardy Clause prevented it, to the extent that the fine exceeded what was needed to cover " 'legitimate nonpunitive governmental objectives,' " Halper, 490 U. S., at 448, quoting Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U. S. 520, 539, n. 20 (1979). The Government's contention in Halper was not that no constitutional prohibition on multiple punishments existed, but rather that it applied only to punishments meted out in a criminal proceeding. See Brief for United States in United States v. Halper, O. T. 1988, No. 87-1383, pp. 11-12, 21-24. I found, and continue to find, that distinction incoherent: if the Constitution prohibits multiple punishments, the nature of the proceeding in which punishment is imposed should make no difference. Accordingly, I joined the Court's unanimous opinion. I continued to apply the rule of Halper—indeed, I thought I applied it more faithfully than the Court—in my dissent the next month in Jones v. Thomas, 491 U. S. 376, 388, 393 (1989).
The difficulty of applying Halper's analysis to Montana's Dangerous Drug Tax has prompted me to focus on the antecedent question whether there is a multiple-punishments
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